Giving the Gift of Mobility – With PCD Dallas, Texas

Giving the Gift of Mobility – With PCD Dallas, Texas

On the day of Earthquake, Budhe Waiba had just returned from the farm and was waiting alone for his son to come home. He wanted to have lunch with his son. That was the time when earthquake hit and devastated the country.

“I went near the door and caught it. It was tragic for me to see my house falling in front of my eyes. The door I was holding also felt above my hand and in no time the corridor also fell down to break my leg.” Mr. Waiba shared his experience to us.

His son working in the farm rushed to his home and found his neighbors trying to pull him out of the rubble. It took 2 hours of struggle for the people to rescue him. His one leg and a foot are severely injured. It is difficult for him to be able to walk and work smoothly again but we can hope that he would be able to do so sooner or later.

He was happy to get wheelchair from Furtemba Sherpa Foundation and thanked us. He expressed it was joyful to get support during the tragic times where everything was going wrong. We explained him that this wheelchair distribution was only possible because of the support from PCD Dallas Texas Family.

When I felt the positive energy shared by Mr Waiba, I recalled the time I first met PCD Dallas Family in Texas. PCD is abbreviation for Palyul Changchub Dhargyayling. It was 26th of February 2011 when Mr. Tshiring Lama made my acquaintance with everyone there. I was welcomed with warm heart to be the part of the family and I am associated till now.

After that day, the family made me their part and supported my Africa tour and was always there to provide me inspiration during difficult times. The family and my tour had one thing in common; both of us were working to share the message of peace and environmental protection which made our direction similar. After 3 years in Africa, I had a chance to celebrate Losar of 2014 with them once again.

By then, we had already started “Giving the Gift of Mobility” program. During the celebration Dr Khenpo Norgay Rinpoche was happy that we have been working for differently able people to strengthen them and make them at least a little strong with wheelchair. He proposed everyone to contribute from their side to provide wheelchairs for physically challenged and financially incapable people of Nepal. The response was overwhelmingly positive. From the collective effort we raised funds for providing a total of 20 wheelchairs for people in need under the giving the gift of mobility program. The 4 wheelchairs we have provided this time is among the wheelchairs gifted by the PCD Dallas family.

The second wheelchair we provided was to a earthquake victim from Khotang. His story is a lesson for every one of us to keep calm. On the day of quake, he was on the second floor of the rented home he stayed. He was so anxious that he jumped off the second floor he stayed in without any second thought. The irony is, the building he was in is still intact after hundreds of tremor. It was unfortunate to have his leg severely injured after the jump which made him to jump off to wheelchair. We pray he could also be fine very soon hoping it would be possible.

Mr. Rajendra B.K , working as an ironsmith in Lapsefedi is our next candidate. He is originally from Bhotechhaur VDC and has been disabled from his childhood. Despite of his disability it is a glory to share that he works and does not rely on anyone for his living.

Both of his legs do not work wears a pair of slipper in his hands for mobility. He shared us that despite of many efforts from years with different organizations working for disabled people he never found a source that could support him with wheelchair. It was not difficult to find a glimpse of joy in his face while we provided him with ‘gif of mobility’. He was thankful to PCD Dallas for the support.

We have 2 more wheelchair for distribution; one will be provided to a lady from Dang and another from lapsefedi. We are still on need assessment procedure.

The wheelchair we have distributed has been distributed with previous assessment of need and checking on financial capability of candidate.

We feel immense pleasure for being able to support victims of earthquake with our wheelchair and our sponsor for this phase PCD Dallas family has left no stone unturned in supporting the earthquake victims other than the wheelchair distribution.

PCD Dallas family has been collecting funds from United States and some of the members have come to Nepal to provide necessary supplies like tents, medicines and foods. They also have been working to construct temporary and permanent houses for victims who had their house turned into rubble.

We thank PCD Dallas family for being kind to disabled people and allowing our organization to help. We also express our gratitude all the differently able people for allowing us to add at least a little mobility to your stable life. We will be sharing about earthquake relief activities of PCD Dallas Texas on our upcoming blog but for next blog we are covering a story of an individual who is in extreme need for artificial legs.

Who I am

I am Furtemba Sherpa from Nepal, and have been cycling around the world since 2003 promoting world peace, environmental protection and social harmony. I chose to use my passion for cycling and spread the message of peace and awareness of environmental issues so that all of us can grow and prosper together.